Distinguishing the Church

Explorations in Word, Sacrament, and Discipline

Greg Peters, Matt Jenson, Greg Peters, Matt Jenson

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781532654855
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Systematic Theology & Ethics

As the Protestant Reformers did, so twenty-first-century Christians also recognize the need to distinguish between the true and false church. Thus, they find themselves looking closely at the modern church to determine whether it is a true and faithful church. Today's Christians know that proper criteria are necessary to discern the true church. The most common criteria, wrote John Calvin, are that the Word of God is rightly preached and heard and that the sacraments are administered according to Christ's institution. Moreover, Martin Luther said that suffering is a telltale sign of God's people, while Anabaptist and Reformed Christians included discipline among the distinguishing marks of the church. These standards take on particular poignancy today: The global church continues to live under severe persecution, and the American church, characterized by a lack of discipline, has been wounded by its own sins of chasing sex and power. In this collection of essays, first given at annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society, the authors take time to reflect on the Reformational marks of the church in order to help reform Christ's bride.With contributions from: Edward W. Klink III Duane LitfinJ. Stephen YuilleJ. V. FeskoKeith D. StanglinGreg CochranJeremy M. KimbleGuy WatersJustin L. McLendon

Part 1

Preaching

1

Preaching and the Interpretation of Scripture

A Call for Ecclesial Exegesis

—Edward W. Klink III

Introduction

Preaching the Word of God is one of the primary tasks of the pastor, and Scripture exhorts the pastor to handle correctly the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). So what does it look like to handle correctly the Word? That is, what does the exegesis of the preacher look like? This question runs against the division of labor that exists between the approach to exegesis done in the academy (e.g., the university and seminary) and the approach to exegesis done in and for the church. In this chapter I would like to suggest that the preaching required of the pastoral office demands a different kind of exegesis. My concern is that for too long preaching has been directed and defined by the rules and social location of the academy and not the church. This, I believe, needs to be corrected; but first, it needs to be explained.

For example, one of the primary resources pastors use when preparing a sermon is the commentary. It is, for all intents and purposes, the guide or tutor for pastors as they perform the interpretation of Scripture. It is standard for the modern commentary to include an introduction to the text to be commented upon, almost always in relation to its historical context. The author, origin, and purpose of the document are usually explored and defended with the assumption that such data is significant for the interpretation to follow. It is unquestionable that this historical information about the text is vital to understanding correctly its meaning and application, yet it is rare for commentators to defend or even explain this implicit methodological foundation. This is unfortunate for two primary reasons.

First, it minimizes the hermeneutical issues involved in any kind of interpretation. Presumably modern commentaries take for granted that the commentary genre is an overtly historical task, and therefore feel no need to explain their method and its philosophical/theological underpinnings to the reader. But this is hardly the case. Not only does the text carry its own interpretive commands innate to its origin and nature, but the act of interpretation forces the interpreter to make a plethora of methodological assumptions regarding the text in view.

The second reason is even more important: it minimizes that the text in view is in fact part of the Christian Scriptures. The very reason why there is so much interest in this particular text is treated as unimportant to the task at hand. By definition, this text raises the interpretive stakes: its author is not merely historical but also divine, and its audience is not merely confined to the ancient world but still exists and receives this text in the modern world. Without denying that this text has an origin and purpose in a time long past, as Scripture it must also be understood to have a divine origin and eternal purpose that demands its reception in every generation—even those still to come.

The exegesis required for the task of preaching demands a particular definition of the nature of the Bible and, therefore, makes particular demands regarding the rules of its interpretation. Said another way, before we can explain what the Bible does we must first explain what the Bible is. This means that exegesis must be appropriately aligned with the object of study. And since the preacher sits under the authority of the Bible, its identity, nature, and context give direction to how it is interpreted and to its subject matter. For the pastoral theologian, the object of study is not completely defined by the categories of ancient text, literary genre, or historical document, for this particular kind of text demands to be defined according to its divine identity as Christian Scripture. Such definitions and practices can simply be described as an ecclesial exegesis—the manner in which the preacher correctly handles the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15).

A Doctrine of Scripture for Exegesis

To define any part of the Bible as Christian Scripture is to place it in a much larger communicative context than simply the historical context in which it took on its literary “flesh.”1 By categorizing the Bible as Scripture we are depicting it in light of its “origin, function, and end in divine self-communication”; yet we are also depicting the manner in which it must be read and the kinds of responses appropriate to its nature: “‘Scripture’ is a shorthand term for the nature and function of the biblical writings in a set of communicative acts which stretch from God’s merciful self-manifestation to the obedient hearing of the community of faith.”2 While such language might not be common vernacular in an introduction in the world of biblical studies and commentaries, it should be, for the object of interpretation demands to be treated according to its true and sacred nature. Not to treat the Bible as Scripture is itself a form of eisegesis, and it is a disobedient hearing of the (canonical) text’s own claim and the God by whom it was authored.

The doctrine of Scripture is necessary for the exegetical task in two ways. First, it gives insight to the interpretive rules demanded by the object of interpretation. In a sense, Scripture becomes its own kind of genre: “If genre is a function of communal reception and usage as well as of inherent characteristics, then the genre of the biblical texts is that of ‘holy Scripture.’”3 Functionally, then, the doctrine of Scripture explains the (theological) genre of the Bible and the generic conventions to be followed by the faithful reader.

Second, the doctrine of Scripture gives oversight to Scripture’s constituent parts and unifies their functions. Three are immediately apparent: (1) since the Bible speaks in time and space history, a doctrinal framework is needed to make sure history remains subservient to the God of creation; (2) since the Bible speaks in literary form, a doctrinal framework is needed to make sure words stay subservient to the Word; and (3) since the Bible speaks about the things of God, a doctrinal framework is needed to make sure theology is defined by the person and work of God himself, the true subject matter of the things of God. In short, the doctrine of Scripture gives oversight to the historical, literary, and theological components of the revelation of God, which we will refer to as “creation,” “canon,” and “creed” in order to match their doctrinal nature. A brief explanation of each is in order.

Creation

The doctrine of Scripture provides the necessary requirements for understanding the historical content and context of the Bible. If we make interpretive judgments regarding the meaning of the Bible by comparing it to the historical (and social-cultural) setting in which it originated and occurred without the oversight or mediation of the doctrine of Scripture, we conflate the meaning of the text to its historical context. The Bible is not to be read as any other book. If we suppose texts are wholly limited and confined by their immediate circumstances of origin and that as soon as they stray from their appointed time and place they will be misread and misunderstood, we embrace a historical perception of this body of writings that is theologically foreign to them. This is not to say that Scripture is unhistorical or less historical—not at all! It is to say, rather, that it is more; that it speaks from a more comprehensive position.

The work of J. Todd B...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Contributors
• Introduction
• Part 1: Preaching
• Part 2: Sacraments
• Part 3: Discipline
• Bibliography